Why do we need biosecurity?
We can never be caught off guard again
Microbial and viral pathogens have been evolving for billions of years. There are more than 200 new epidemics each year, a number that has increased every year for the past two decades.
Biology doesn’t respect borders
Public health is influenced by everything around us: people, animals, and the environment. Viruses can jump species, and impacts from climate change and migration only increase the odds. Recognizing and addressing those connections is called One Health.
Biosecurity can act like radar by helping to identify and track infectious diseases and surges to contain potential outbreaks. This type of data can empower government officials and community leaders to make informed decisions.
The goal of biosecurity is to utilize public health data to mitigate risks and cultivate resilient, flourishing communities.
The operating system for real-time biosecurity
There’s no one answer to all biological risks. To thrive alongside the complexity of biology, we need multilayered protection that makes biosecurity available to everyone.
We’ve built an end-to-end platform that works like an operating system for biosecurity, managing the underlying networks, capabilities, data infrastructure, security features, and support needed for a flexible combination of biosecurity solutions.
It’s a lot like the operating system of your phone or computer, which acts as a foundation to develop and run a vast array of apps and functions. Our biosecurity operating system enables unique biosecurity offerings (or “apps”) that help you prevent, detect, and respond to biological threats. And as these risks and your needs evolve, so does our platform.
Growing the bioeconomy with care
Biology is the most advanced technology on the planet. We can program cells to grow heartier crops, clean pollutants in the environment, improve energy efficiency, and more. Responsible approaches to biosecurity make sure cell programming is done right. As the biosecurity and public health arm of Ginkgo Bioworks, we partner with governments and communities to secure the biology around us with care.
Part of our mission includes developing new kinds of biosecurity tools, data, and infrastructure to monitor for current and future pathogens with pandemic and epidemic potential.
As governments and industry continue to adopt biotechnology, we’re creating biosecurity solutions that support ethical, equitable scaling. Building capacity for genomic and viral sequencing is paramount, but not at the expense of privacy and data security. We must innovate with protections for communities in mind. That will allow us to harness the bioeconomy’s potential while remaining agile enough to adapt to public concerns.
Ginkgo’s Foundry supercharges our offerings
Concentric is the biosecurity and public health offering of Ginkgo Bioworks, the leading horizontal platform for cell programming. Working together gives us the power to add biosecurity at the point of design.
Ginkgo’s Foundry is home to the best of DNA synthesis, sequencing, laboratory automation, and high-performance analytics. It’s where we sequenced the first instances of Omicron BA.2 and BA.3 in the U.S. as part of the CDC’s traveler-based early detection program. Building our offerings around the Foundry magnifies our knowledge of genomics. What we learn there can help accelerate effective responses (like vaccine development) and ensure we are building proper safety and security measures into new technologies from the start.
We built a foundation for the future
Launching the country’s COVID-19 response network called for a monumental cross-sector effort and we must maintain the systems that we built—they are working.
A layered approach to biosecurity and public health can maintain our readiness for future COVID-19 surges and other pathogen risks. Introducing passive monitoring solutions, such as wastewater and air monitoring, will broaden our view. The additional insights can drive policies that enable communities to continually step up instead of shutting down.
Many people are ready to leave COVID-19 in the past. Now, let’s scale the innovation that got us through the pandemic to prepare for whatever pathogen might be next. One Health depends on it.
We do our best work partnering with governments and communities to design biosecurity around specific challenges. Let’s help solve yours.
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